“Letty…” Miles said with a nervous edge to his voice. “You need to tell me.”
A meaningful sigh escaped from Letty’s mouth. Cutting a charged look at Miles in the dark of the car, Letty finally broke her silence.
“I just got you back. I don’t want you getting into hot water again…”
Her gaze cut Miles like a knife. Glancing over at Letty as his heart panged with guilt, Miles quickly set the record straight in a no bullshit tone.
“Letty… I just shot two guys who were trying to snatch you. You’re worried now? I opened fire with twin Berettas in the middle of Town Center… Imagine what I would have done if they had actually taken you. Start talkin’….”
Letty snapped back, “I don’t mean with the police and you know it!”
Letty had a look of reproach on her face as she glared at Miles.
I know the implications of the look that is painted on her face. I know that trouble had found Letty, despite her best intentions. It has something to do with my father’s “business,” I just know it. Why else would Dante and the Fish be after her? I saw the text message. I’m not dumb, far from it. Working at the Capadonno compound, I’m sure there have been plenty of shady dealings that Letty has seen and heard that were considered sensitive intel. The thought of what she might have witnessed causes my blood to churn into a rolling boil, Miles thought.
Releasing a deep sigh, Miles replied sternly, “Out with it, Letty.”
Rubbing the side of her face, Letty’s eyes took on a terrified tone.
It bothers me that she is so upset. It bothers me more that my father and his associates made her that way.
“Miles, I’ve worked for your father for a very long time,” Letty began.
“I heard,” Miles replied. “Go on.”
“It’s been seven, going on eight years now. I’m his nurse. I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement before he’d let me even step foot inside of his foyer.”
“No surprise,” Miles added bluntly. “The old bastard has plenty to hide. That NDA obviously isn’t going to keep you safe.”
Giving Miles a scathing look, Letty placed her hands on his chest and said, “Miles, I don’t think this was your father’s doing…”
“I know what I saw, Letty…”
Exchanging a hard glare, Miles’s eyes softened at the sight of Letty’s scowl.
“Sorry. Continue…”
“So naturally, signing a NDA… I expected to see my fair share of ugliness…”
Miles nodded, not wanting to interrupt her again. Every time he did, Letty looked like she was going to choke the life out of him.
“But this, Miles… I never expected to see this…” Letty said, looking up at him with glassy eyes.
“What did he do?” Miles asked through gritted teeth, desperately trying not to show how bent he was becoming.
“Tonight, as I was getting Michael ready for bed, Rainey came storming in with her on again, off again boyfriend. They’re obviously fighting. Their voices were raised and it sounded like Ant’ny slammed your sister into a wall.”
Miles’s eyebrow raised over his right eye as he listened to Letty recount what had happened tonight. Miles’s heart was racing in his chest as he waited for Letty to continue.
“For a moment, your father sat there, rather calmly as he listened to what was going on. It sounded as if Raine was breaking up with Anthony again… but this was nothing new. They broke up at least once a month. This time was different with Anthony’s hostility. I never knew him to be a violent kid, but I know what I heard,” Letty continued.
“Let me guess… The old dude jumped off his rocker.”
Letty scoffed. “You could definitely say that. He walked from his hospital bed to the console table in the hallway.”
Letty didn’t need to finish. Miles knew the rest. He’d seen it happen himself on countless occasions.
The great thing about being born into the Capadonno family… You get a front row seat for the shit show that was my father and his associates. Although I have a feeling I know what happened, I need Letty to tell me herself.
“He sends a vase of flowers crashing to the floor, he grabs a gun out of the table and shoots Rainey’s boyfriend to death,” Letty said in a shaky voice looking into Miles’s eyes for a source of stability. Miles gave it to her. He never showed fear, much less in front of her.
She looks to me for strength and guidance, I damn well am going to give it to her.
Cupping her cheek in his hand, Miles’s calloused finger ran down Letty’s face as her heart rate began to calm again.
Letty continued, “He calls Dustin who shows up with Dante and the Fish. I guess they’re something of a clean-up crew. Dustin was pissed. Absolutely furious. He asked me if I was all right and then he went upstairs to check on Raine who had stormed up to her bedroom in a whirlwind of tears and anger. But when Fish and Dante see me, they say to your dad, ‘Want us to take ’er out?’ Bastards…”
My blood is on fire. No one would be laying a hand on Letty Alves.
“And he said what?” Miles demanded to know through gritted teeth.
“Huh?’ Letty replied, seemingly in a daze.
“My father. What did he say to their offer?”
“Oh, he snapped. He was absolutely furious.”
Interesting.
“Hey, Letty… let me ask you a question,” Miles said with a perplexed look on his face.
“Yeah, baby?” Letty asked him, her full attention on Miles’s face.
“What made you decide to work for my father? There’s plenty of hospitals and doctor’s offices around. Why him?”
A flicker of a secret flashed in Letty’s eyes. A slight grin creased her face.
“I think you know why, Miles…”
“Yeah, I think I know why, too,” Miles began. “But I want to hear it from you.”
Letty let out a dark laugh. “Have you ever heard the term, ‘Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer’?”
Miles chuckled slightly under his breath. “You know I have…”
“Well there you go. I did it for you.”
“Have you told anyone else any of this?”
Letty gave Miles a glaring look. “I ain’t a rat… and you sure as hell aren’t a rat, either.”
“You know me a little too well, Letty. C’mon. Corina wants to stretch her legs.”
Corina hit the winding road out of Town Center, her engine roaring as they sped forward. Miles kept driving for about twenty minutes, following the signs for Apple Ridge. Finding a quiet spot, Miles pulled off the side of the road, putting Corina in park. Out of the corner of his right eye, Miles watched as Letty’s hand went to change the station on the radio.
She wears no rings on her fingers. This fact is not lost on me.
As a crappy pop hit blared out of the speakers, Letty rolled her eyes, the sickeningly sweet melody turning her stomach. Letty quietly flicked the dial as the sexy guitar rift of “One of These Nights” by the Eagles filled Corina’s cab.
“Oh, my God, I love this song…” Letty gushed, all the stress from the evening washing off of her.
Satisfied with the song choice, Letty began to sing along to the lyrics as she let the words and the music melt away her worries. An amused smile creased Miles’s face as he watched Letty’s body sway to the music. Her eyes closed as she sang along, her sweet voice adding something extra to the song. Watching her, Miles was reminded that despite the difference in their outward appearances, and the diversity of their upbringing, inside Letty and Miles were the same.
We put on hardened exteriors to protect our hearts. We do not trust easily. We do not bend easily. But in her able hands, I am like putty. Despite the darkness and the distance that was put between us, Letty has melted the ice around my heart once again simply by sitting near me.
Miles’s eyes lingered over her as she lost herself to the rhythm of the music. Letty’s brown hair was piled high atop her head in a messy bu
n. A few wavy strands fell rogue and framed Letty’s pretty face. Her cream sweater fell softly against her dark blue skinny jeans, and her brown riding boots hit just below the knee. A simple gold chain hung around her neck with a pendant that was engraved with a cursive G.
I wonder who G is. It isn’t a husband or a fiancé. Not the way she kissed me back.
Grabbing her hand, Miles brought her palm to his lips and leaned into her touch. Closing his eyes for a moment, Miles breathed her in, letting the warmth of her touch still his hammering heart. As Miles opened his eyelids, Letty was staring at him with a coy smile planted on her face.
“I’ve missed you more than you can comprehend, Miles Capadonno…”
A smile tugged at Miles’s lips as he pressed Letty’s hands to his mouth. Remembering all those nights in his cell, cracking cement surrounding him, a slat of a window letting just a tiny strip of light in. The cries from the other inmates that kept Miles awake at night. Miles would often replay the events that led up to his arrest in his head, and there were so many things that he didn’t understand. In the hopelessness of it all, Letty was Miles’s one ray of hope. Letty gave him strength to face each day, but Miles’s strength was truly tested when he had to fight against the darkness of night.
Whether she was still mine or not, she was what kept me from hanging myself in my cell in the darkest of nights.
A muted laugh broke from Miles’s mouth. “Oh, Letty… I think I know a little something about longing.”
Her lips curled into a smile. Eliminating the space between them, Letty swiveled on her seat. She grabbed Miles’s t-shirt with her free hand, clenching the material tightly, tugging him towards her. Letty’s eyes held Miles captive, the soft brown hue inviting him in, her long lashes only sweetening the deal.
A sweet aroma wafts off her neck—the perfume smells like freshly washed linens hanging on the line on a warm summer day. Home is not a place. Home has no address. Home, for me, is Letty Alves. When I left her side, my stomach panged with sickness. When she is near, my heart doesn’t feel so empty anymore.
Bringing her lips to his, Miles felt like Letty had sucked the breath right from his lungs. He couldn’t breathe. His heart stammered as the shock of the moment hit him.
It doesn’t matter that there is still a contract on my head. It doesn’t matter that my father is probably going to try to kill me. It doesn’t even matter that Fish and Dante are still out lurking in Carrion. In this moment, I don’t care. As Letty kisses me, I feel as if all is right in my world.
Running their tongues together, the same spark that had stunned Letty earlier had come back to return the favor. Miles’s blood rushed as the thrill of her kiss took hold of him.
Jesus, quit acting like a little kid… But that’s exactly what she does to me. It is as if no time has passed at all. I am that cocky little eighteen-year-old kid again, walking a dangerous road between heaven and hell, with the girl of my dreams at my side. Nothing has changed. Everything has changed. But the one important thing is, Letty is right here, glued to my side.
Letty let out the softest of moans as she bit down on Miles’s bottom lip.
She stares up at me with the sexiest pair of fuck-me eyes I’ve ever seen in my life. Not here, not like this… But despite my reservations, Letty clearly has none.
Now gripping onto Miles’s shirt with both hands, Letty moved from her seat, straddling Miles’s lap. Her voluptuous figure leaned up against the steering wheel as her hands ran through Miles’s hair. Staring up at her, Miles thought she had the appearance of a woman who knew exactly what she wanted. That something just so happened to be Miles. Without a second’s warning, her lips rushed Miles’s neck, her teeth sinking into the flesh of his neck. Heart churning, blood burning, head spinning… Letty was a force of nature. Her hand lifted the bottom of Miles’s shirt, running her nails up his chest. A guttural groan ripped from Miles’s throat.
Until this point, I had kept my movements chaste, the man in me still imprisoned by social propriety. That is all about to change.
Taking her hands off of his chest, Letty grabbed the hem of her sweater. Giving Miles a devilish wink, she lifted the soft material above her head, exposing her soft curvaceous body.
A lot of men have something to say about a plus-sized woman. They might think curves aren’t sexy. I beg to fucking differ. Letty has curves for days.
Running his hand across Letty’s stomach and up her back, Miles’s eyes fell upon her ample breasts that threatened to break free of her black lacy bra. Biting his bottom lip, Miles took in the sight before him.
Letty’s extra curves, they make me hard just thinking about her. Fuck. Me.
The radio switched tracks as Letty began to sway her hips over Miles, never breaking eye contact. That’s when their song began to play.
It was a song that so perfectly evoked the passion of our youth and the rekindled inferno that takes hold of us now. I’m On Fire, a song by the Boss that I often feel like he wrote just for me and Letty, wails from the speakers as Letty runs her bra straps down her arms. She is tempting a man that doesn’t need to be tempted. She is baiting me out of the cage I have placed myself in. I want her in a bed. I want to give her the fucking romance she deserves. But here she is reminding me, that that just wasn’t our style. As the lyrics fall off my tongue, I aim to remind Letty what it felt like to be my girl.
Rushing his hands up her back as his mouth met her stomach, Miles kissed her, his tongue running up her side. Teeth clenched onto the lace of her bra, Miles unclasped her bra with one hand, and tugged on the waistband of her jeans with the other.
In a raspy voice Miles asked, “Are you sure?”
Letty laughed as she brought her mouth to Miles’s ear. In a seductive whisper she replied, “I think you’ve made me wait long enough…”
Not waiting a second more, Letty tugged on Miles’s jeans. Slipping her hand into his pants, Miles groaned as she wrapped her hand around his shaft. As Miles gave himself over to the beast that yearned inside, he reclaimed the only woman he ever loved. As Letty rocked Miles back and forth between ecstasy and agony, beauty and pain, Miles broke free of his mental prison and experienced a rebirth of his own.
Holy shit, I am on fire… and Letty holds the match.
Sealing their encounter with a soft kiss, Letty fell onto Miles’s chest, her heart hammering against his own.
In nothing more than a whisper, she demanded, “Don’t you ever leave my side again…”
Holding her face in his hands, Miles laid his lips on her cheek, leaving her the softest of kisses.
“You know I won’t…” Miles whispered back, his voice sounding rough against her ear.
Her smile faded a little as a thought seemed to take over her mind. Her eyes had a faraway look as Miles peered down at Letty.
“What is it?” Miles asked, tilting her head up to him.
“Can I ask you a question?” Letty asked as she looked up at Miles with wide eyes.
“Well… yeah…” Miles stammered.
She caught me off guard. I’m not sure I like the look in her eyes. My stomach pangs with worry.
“You love me right?” Letty asked, staring up at Miles with an intensity he had yet to experience.
“You know I do. More than I can express.”
Letty moved her hair off her shoulder and glared at Miles with the fury of a thousand suns.
“Then how come, in the seventeen years that you were gone, I never received a single letter from you?”
Letty’s eyes were full of pain as she looked at Miles. He didn’t speak for a moment. It felt like someone had taken a rusted blade and jammed it right in his windpipe.
“What do you mean? I wrote you every week. Every single week. There were hundreds of letters.”
“Hundreds,” Letty said in a voice of total disbelief.
“Yes. I never stopped writing you. Even though I thought you were ignoring me. I never stopped. I’m a man of my word.”
�
�Miles, I never got a single one.”
The gears in Letty’s head were grinding as she observed the expression on Miles’s face.
“Does anyone still live at 201 Mulberry Terrace, Carrion, NJ 07642?” Miles asked with alarm in his voice.
“Yes…” Letty said, her voice trailing off as a look of recognition took over her eyes.
“Your dad,” Miles suggested.
Letty shook her head as rage coursed through her body. “Just wait ’til I get a hold of him…”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
MICHAEL CAPADONNO shook his head as he dismissed Knox and Dustin from his chambers.
“Go on. Get out of here. I’ll let you know when I’ve made a decision… I’ve got business to tend to,” Michael spat as Dustin and Knox exchanged wary glances.
“You need to go lie down,” Knox suggested as his father took a swig of an amber-colored liquid that swirled in his tumbler.
“I’ll do whatever the hell I please,” Michael yelled. “Now go…”
From behind them, the door of the war room swung open, as three tall men strode through, clad head to toe in black suits. They had serious looks upon their faces, and didn’t appear to be in the mood for pleasantries.
“Ah! Silvio, Antonio, Johnny…” Michael said as he greeted his associates.
Dustin rolled his eyes. “What the hell boat did you all roll off of?” he asked of the men whom he had never met before.
“Boat…” Silvio replied with a deep Sicilian accent. “Is that what you call a joke?”
Shaking his head, Dustin waved to his father as he left the room. “I’ll leave you to your uh… company.”
Knox glared at his father before he grabbed his suit jacket to leave.
“I’ll be around the next few days, Pop,” Knox explained.
“Whatever… Just clear out. I’ve got people coming.”
Dustin and Knox exchanged a bewildered look before they exited the room.
Miles Away (Carrion #1) Page 11